An Odd Encounter
by Animus et Anima
Summary: When Martha and the Doctor are trapped in 1969, she runs into a couple visiting London. Literally. She brings them to the flat she shares with the Doctor and they meet him. But are they hiding something from the Time Lord and his companion? One-shot, maybe two shot.


**So, this story idea has been nagging me for weeks, so I finally wrote it out. I don't own anything.**

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Martha Jones had been training to be a doctor once upon a time. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted to be a doctor so she could help people. Of course, that had momentarily taken a back seat to travelling with a very different kind of Doctor. At least until they managed to get transported back in time without his TARDIS by a species of aliens called the Weeping Angels. And while the Doctor was normally a brilliant, clever, wonderful man, Martha was quickly seeing why he didn't stay in one place very long. He got bored extremely easily; he couldn't even keep a normal job. She wouldn't care under typical circumstances, if there was such a thing with the Doctor, but that meant that her job at the department store, Hendrick's, was supporting the two of them. It had been the only job she could find and she had been a little hesitant about taking it, since the Hendrick's building she used to visit with her mum had blown up a few years prior. The Doctor had promised her that had nothing to do with the store itself, and Martha was pretty sure she didn't want to know.

Martha was walking home from the shop as she thought about how different her life had become in the past few months. Not just since they came back to 1969, but since that crazy day when her hospital had been transported to the moon and she had met one of the most remarkable men probably in the universe. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, and as she came to a corner of her block, she ran straight into an older man. Martha managed to lose her purse and the older man seemed to stumble and probably would have fallen if it wasn't for his wife grabbing his arm. His map, however, fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry," Martha said as she picked up her bag and the man's map. Unfortunately, it had been raining that morning and the map had fallen into a puddle. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was trying to figure out where we were on that bloody map, and wasn't watching where I was going."

She handed it to the man, but the water was still dripping off the paper. "I can't say I really was either. I'm not sure how much good that map is going to do you now, though."

She took a good look at the older couple. She placed them in the late fifties or sixties. The man was taller with graying hair. His wife's hair was a dull reddish brown color, and she looked at her husband in concern. The man just shrugged at Martha's comment. "Wasn't doing much good when I could read it either."

"Says the man who thought we were on the other side of town," his wife prodded playfully, her Scottish accent evident. She then looked at Martha. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could get another one, do you?"

"I've got one in my flat," Martha offered. It was her fault the man had dropped it in the first place. And it's not like the Doctor used it, and it was usually easier just to ask the Doctor where to go anyways. "Plus, my flat mate could probably give you directions better than any map."

The couple exchanged a wary look, but it quickly disappeared and the woman asked, "How far away is it?"

"At the end of the block."

"Why not then?"

"Okay," Martha agreed as she began to lead the way. They walked about ten paces, before she decided to start conversation. "So what brings you to London?"

"Just visiting," the man answered. "She lived here for a couple months. It's very different now."

"It's not _that _different. You just never liked it."

"I didn't mind it. You just weren't home. And you loved the town," he smiled and she smiled back. It was obvious that even now the two were very much in love.

The older woman then looked at Martha, who was searching for her keys to enter the building. "Are you from here?"

"Not really," Martha smiled. She may be from London, but the 1960's was fairly foreign to her. The older couple would probably think she was insane if she told them all she had seen, or even how she got there. Honestly, who'd believe statues of angels sent her back in time? She changed the topic though. "I'm on the second floor."

"You live here alone?" the man asked.

"No, I share it with one of my mates," Martha admitted, before realizing that the Doctor would be hard to prepare this nice, older couple for. "I should warn you, he's a bit odd. If he says or does anything weird, just ignore him."

"Ah, you share a flat with a man?" the woman smiled wickedly.

"No, it's not like that! I mean, we're just friends. I mean, he's smart, brilliant, funny, but he's still hung up on his… ex and not interested."

"Sure, it's not."

"Hey, who are you to be questioning me about my life?" Martha asked defensively, before opening the door. "Hello, anybody home?"

"Martha!" the Doctor called out. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, and I brought a couple over. They want to use our map," she answered back as she put her coat and purse up.

The Doctor came around the corner and saw his friend with two strangers. "We have a map? Of what?"

"London. They're visiting."

"I'm sorry," the woman interjected. "Have we met before?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't forget faces," he said before smiling. Suddenly, he changed his accent to match hers. "And you're Scottish! Love a good Scotsman, well, woman. One of my best friends when I was younger was Scottish! Jamie was one of kind."

"You're Scottish, too?" she asked. Martha was still trying to figure out how the Doctor had changed his accent so well. Then again, it was the Doctor.

"No, though that's one of the better places I've been accused of coming from," he admitted reverting back to his normal voice.

"Where are you from?" the older man asked.

"Oh, no place you've heard of."

"Right, well, I'm going to go look for this map," Martha informed the group.

She immediately headed for the common room and the moment she stepped into the room, she heard the Doctor yell, "I can explain!"

What laid in front of Martha was the radio she had bought for them last week, in about a hundred different pieces on the floor. She took a deep breath before turning back to the Doctor. "What did you do to the radio?"

"The signal was bad, so I was fixing it. I was going to have it put back together by the time you got home."

"This is worse than the toaster!" she yelled. The woman poked her head into the room to see what they were talking about and gave a snort of laughter.

"I'm going to fix it," the Doctor assured his companion.

"You bet you are. I'm paying for everything. You keep on breaking things, I'm going to hide them in my room," Martha threatened him.

"You know I can't get a job," the Doctor whined.

"No, you _refuse _to get one. There's a difference."

The female guest coughed something that sounded like 'Freeloader', and her husband elbowed her. Martha quickly decided that she like the couple. The Doctor, not so much. "Oi, you don't know anything about our relationship. I let her live in my… mobile home for nothing."

"And clearly this flat isn't better," she prodded.

"It's not!"

"What do you mean 'nothing'? I've saved your life multiple times!" Martha chimed in.

"And I've save yours!"

"You made me be your maid," she threw out. She was still bitter at him for that one. He had been a beyond useless as a human and treated her as a servant and not a friend.

"I said I was sorry!"

"You made her be your maid? I'm not sure if that's sexist or racist," the woman told the Doctor.

"It was neither!"

"Oh, I bet I know your type," she continued on. "You're cute, you're charming, you probably have girls falling all over you doing whatever you want. And when someone is genuinely there for you, you treat them badly."

"Yeah, clearly we've never met," the Doctor scoffed. "It's a long complicated story that would make you run for the hills."

"Oh, trust me, I've face things much scarier than you."

"Okay, stop!" her husband interrupted the argument. "You two are acting like children! I've already raised one of those. Maybe two. So, you," he said looking at his wife, "go help… look for the map or something."

"Well check the stacks in the other room," Martha agreed. She looked pointedly at the Time Lord, "Please try to fix."

The women left the two men standing there awkwardly. The Doctor turned to the mess on the floor and rubbed his hands through his hair. He hadn't wanted to tell Martha that he seemed to have misplaced a part of the radio, the transmitter. But the older looking of the two men looked at him and asked, "Do you need help with that?"

"You know anything about putting radios together?"

"Not really. I had a friend who used to have me help with repairs on his… ship though. Wiring in there was much more confusing than a radio."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay, then, let's get to work. Alons-y."

They sat down on the floor, the Doctor's new friend a bit more slowly. The Doctor had immediately began pulling different pieces towards him and trying to place them back into the radio casing somewhat similar to how he had found them. It didn't take long until he knew he needed a bit of sonic help, so he pulled it out of his pocket and began to use it. His helper, however, immediately took interest in the sonic screwdriver. "What's that?"

"This? Special screwdriver. Got it from a friend. Very helpful. Only one I know about."

"It's the only one?" the man repeated, a little confused.

"Yeah, why?" The Doctor was a little concerned. If this man had seen a sonic before, then he might have run into an older version of him.

"My, uh, son-in-law has something similar to it, I think. I'm probably wrong. It's been awhile since I've seen him." The Doctor relaxed. Definitely not him. He would never be someone's son-in-law. Well, maybe Jackie's, but that couldn't happen anymore.

"Your son-in-law's isn't as good as mine."

"I'm sure you're right… I'm sorry," the man said suddenly, "I don't think I caught your name."

"Oh, right! Sorry! I'm the Doctor. Just the Doctor. And I didn't catch yours."

"Oh, uh, I'm Anthony Rivers," he said, sticking out his hand.

"Nice to mean you Anthony! A bit nicer than the woman yelling at me."

"Yeah, my wife can be like that. I'll talk to her, and get her to apologize," Anthony assured the Doctor. "And she'll actually mean it."

"You can get a woman to do that?"

"I'll just tell her you're not as bad as you seem."

"What's her name?"

"Melody," Anthony answered quickly.

They continued to chat. Anthony and Melody lived in New York, where they had moved for her work decades ago. Anthony was a nurse, and was probably more prepare and capable then some doctors of the time. He didn't seem concerned that there was a white man and black woman living together, which was amazing considering the time period. The Doctor didn't say much other than he was a traveler, but Anthony didn't push past that. He definitely liked this Anthony Rivers. Especially when Anthony handed the Doctor the missing transmitter.

The Doctor had just finished putting the radio back together, which he honestly wouldn't have been able to do as quickly without Anthony, when Martha and Anthony's wife came back out. Anthony was off the floor pretty quickly. But the girls hadn't been able to find the map in any of the other rooms, so they needed to check this one. And with the Doctor's mess cleaned up, all four of them would be able to look. That is if, Anthony hadn't taken his wife into the entryway to convince her to apologize to the Doctor. Martha and the Doctor had barely started looking when Melody and Anthony reappeared. Melody no longer wore a small scowl when she looked at him. Instead, she looked endearing. "Doctor, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I shouldn't have said it. You aren't racist to anybody, and you don't mean to be sexist, even if it slips out occasionally." Her husband elbowed her again. "Anyway, sorry."

"Thank you, Melody. You don't know the whole story, so I can see how it could have come off as such."

It was just then that Martha held up a piece of paper in the air. "Found it!"

"Great! We can be on our way, then," Anthony tried.

"Um, Doctor," Melody continued, "I know I have no right to ask this, but R- Anthony said you were a traveler. I have a friend who likes to travel to. I was wondering if I could give you a message to give him, if you ever see him."

"_Mels_," her husband said warningly.

"Yeah, sure. But I probably won't ever meet him."

"Just in case?" she asked innocently. The look in her eye was pleading as if this was one of the most important things in the world to her. The Doctor was powerless to do anything but agree.

"How will I know your friend?"

"He's hard to miss. He'll probably be a little depressed when you find him. He's a bit childish, but extremely lovable. He's loyal, kind, and one of the most amazing men I've ever met. He knows so much, but sometimes he forgets the most important thing: that the universe needs him and his friends will always be there. We lost touch, and I know it's killing him."

"Is that the message?" the Doctor asked, a little concerned if it was.

"No. It's a long message. Do you need to write it down?"

"You might as well right it down then," Martha pointed out. It seemed to cause Melody to have an idea. She went and grabbed something out of her own bag. It was a Polaroid camera.

"Can I get a picture of the four of us? Just so I have something memorable to write it down on?"

The Doctor and Martha shrugged. Anthony was a bit more apprehensive about it, but Melody insisted. When all four of them were within the camera's visual field, Melody snapped two pictures. One for Martha and the Doctor, and one for Anthony and herself. She wrote something down, and then her husband did the same, on the back of the picture she gave the Doctor and Martha and just had one request. "Don't read it. Not until you meet him."

"Okay," the Doctor agreed.

"Thank you, so much, Martha," Melody told her. "I don't think there's anyone I would have rather run into."

"It's no problem, that map was just going to collect dust here anyway. I'll walk you two down, though."

Anthony turned to the Doctor. "It was nice seeing you, Doctor."

"Pleasure's all mine, Anthony Rivers." The Doctor stuck out his hand to shake Anthony's. The older looking of the men took the hand but then pulled the Doctor in for a hug. The Doctor was a little confused, but when with it.

Then Melody came over to him. "Take care, Doctor. And don't do anything too stupid."

"Can't really guarantee that," he admitted as he rubbed his neck.

She shook her head and smiled, "No, I suppose you wouldn't be you if you could." She did as her husband and hugged him goodbye. She also placed a small kiss on his cheek.

When Martha walked the couple down the stairs, she noticed that Melody seemed to be much less talkative than she had been on the way up. When they were outside, she simply turned to the two of them and said goodbye. But Melody had something she needed to say.

"Enjoy every moment with him, Martha. He'll never admit it, but he needs someone with him. It doesn't matter the relationship, he needs someone to pull him out of his head. Someone who cares about him."

"What?" Martha was a little confused.

"Just an older woman's advice," Melody assured her.

"Thank you, again, for everything," Anthony told her.

"It's just a map."

"It was so much more than that." And with that, the couple disappeared into the London air.

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**What do you think? Any questions or comments? Reviews are appreciated. **


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